Test of memory-enhancing chocolate in Swiss mice by using radial arm maze / Syafiqah Zamasry

Aging is the process whereby cognitive function starts to decline. This decline gives a bad impact in social and economic aspects and cause memory loss problem. Dysfunction of neurons in the brain will lead to the declining of cognitive observed in elderly people and those who suffered from Alzheimer's disease (AD). There are many methods and products introduced in the market in order to overcome the problem of memory loss. Since there are still not many studies done on the beneficial effect of chocolate in enhancing memory, the purpose of this study is to test memory-enhancing chocolate available in the market by using radial arm maze (RAM) model in mice. Mice subjects (n=5) were administered orally with memory-enhancing chocolate· ( dosage of 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg), piracetam 200 mg/kg as positive control and normal saline as negative control for 14 days prior to RAM experiment for three days. The results of this study showed an improvement in mice of piracetam group as they learn and store the information as memory. In addition, only piracetam are significantly different from the memory­ enhancing chocolate and negative control. This is further supported by previous study that found piracetam is a nootropics drug that exhibits neuroprotective properties.